Ottawa Sr High

Ottawa Sr High, a heavily attended secondary school in Ottawa, Kansas, run under Ottawa, hosts 681 students, covering grades 6 through 12. By comparison, Kansas's public schools average about 410 students each, so Ottawa Sr High sits 66% larger than that benchmark.

Across the 6 schools in Ottawa (2,150 students total), Ottawa Sr High accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

Looking at the student body, Ottawa Sr High logs that 83% of students identify as White, making the school strongly White-majority. Other groups include 8% Hispanic, 4% multiracial, 3% Black.

Looking at the economic backdrop, Ottawa Sr High lists 55 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 12.3:1. That tracks the state average closely. About 50% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal.

After controlling for student poverty, Ottawa Sr High falls in the UNDERPERFORMING tier of the BeatsExpectations residual. Given its student profile, a typical campus would land near 38.1%; this one comes in at 19.0%, -19.1 points off the demographic line.

In the area at large, census data for Franklin County shows the typical household earns roughly $77,207 per year, roughly 25% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 6%. Ottawa Sr High is one of 15 public schools in Franklin County (combined enrollment of about 4,187 students).

Ottawa Middle School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.2 miles from this campus. Within five miles, there are 5 other public schools. On composite proficiency, Ottawa Sr High comes 8th of 8 in the immediate cluster, beneath the nearby-schools average of 38.1%.

The school occupies a small-town site.

Over the past 7-year window. Over the past 7-year window, the student count fell 3%: 701 students in 2018 compared to 681 in 2025. The student-to-teacher ratio narrowed from 14.2:1 in 2018 to 12.3:1 today.

On the community side, recent activity here tends to focus on school events, parent volunteer needs, and clubs. The community welcomes input from current and former families.